Howard gets into win column at Brier

Glenn Howard picked up a much-needed victory on Monday night at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, Alta.

Entering day four of action, Team Howard picked up a 5-4 win over New Brunswick’s James Grattan on Monday for their first win of the 10-day event.

Speaking to the media following the win, Howard said the team could have four wins at this point instead of being 1-3.

“It’s been so close,” Howard told Curling Canada. “We played three top teams right off the bat. I personally have been just off a little bit. I’m missing a couple of shots that I shouldn’t. If I made those in the first three games, it might be a different story.”

Howard called the win over Grattan “a massive win.”

“We’re still in the hunt,” Howard added.

After missing the provincial playdowns, which were skipped by his son Scott, due to a knee injury, Howard said his knee is at “about 85 per cent.”

“It’s not perfect,” he added. “It’s still sore. It’s not really affecting me. It pinches a little bit when I slide, but not enough to affect my play. The more I slide on it, the better it gets.”

With the hammer in the opening end, Grattan made a draw with him final shot to score a pair and take an early 2-0 lead.

Howard rebounded in the second end with a pair of his own before taking the lead in the third end with a steal of one.

With Howard lying one, Grattan looked to play an in-off to the button to score one, but couldn’t, giving Howard a 3-2 lead in the process.

Facing a pair of Howard rocks in the fourth end, Grattan made a draw for one to tie the game.

In the seventh end, after blanking a pair of ends, Howard looked to tap a Grattan rock to score a pair, but was wide on the shot and slid past, giving Grattan a steal of one and a 4-3 lead.

Howard tied the game in the eighth end with a single and then took the lead with a steal of one in the ninth end.

With Howard sitting three, Grattan removed two of the three Ontario rocks, giving Howard a 5-4 lead heading into the 10th end.

Howard would run Grattan out of rocks in the final end to pick up the win.

The Howard rink returns to action on Tuesday as Team Ontario takes on Team Saskatchewan, skipped by Colton Flasch in the afternoon draw, which begins at 3:30 p.m. Midland time.

The Brier field is split into two pools of nine teams each.

The top three teams will advance to the expanded playoff format, which begins on Friday after seven days of round robin action.

The second- and third-place teams in each pool will meet in a page playoff qualifier with the winners of those games facing the top seeded teams from each pool.

The page playoff games are set for March 12 with semifinal and final action set for the following day.